Malta International Airport plc - April Traffic Results

On 5 May, Malta International Airport plc published the April 2015 traffic results revealing yet another record month with 392,676 passenger movements during the month under review, representing a 4.2% increase over the same month in 2014. The increased passenger traffic in April was due to a 4.1% increase in aircraft movements which lead to increased seat capacity combined with a 1.1 percentage point increase in the seat load factor to 77.8%.

The airport operator also stated that the German and Italian market were the largest contributors to the growth in passenger numbers during the month of April. The German market registered an 11.8% increase (equivalent to 5,836 additional passengers) over April 2014, largely due to the fact that the Cruise and Fly operation was launched earlier this year. The airport also registered an increase in traffic to and from Milan, Rome and Catania which contributed to 13.9% more passengers from the Italian market when compared to last year.

The announcement also explained that Spain re-entered the airport’s top five market list with a 15% increase in traffic over 2014. Furthermore, the Company also noted that traffic from Poland doubled in April, putting it in 6th place on the airport’s top destinations list.

Meanwhile, the British market shrank by 3.1% with slight drops registered on Manchester and Gatwick flights and reduced operations on regional routes. Traffic from France also contracted by 2.7%.

MIA’s CEO Alan Borg commented that April’s traffic results are an encouraging start to the Company’s busiest period of the year. Mr Borg also stated that a series of investments worth €4 million are in there final stages and will be ready just before the peak season.

2015 Forecast: Earlier this year, MIA announced a forecast of a 2% increase in passenger numbers for 2015 to yet another record of circa 4.37 million passenger movements on the back of further capacity being deployed to Malta as well as a number of new airlines and routes, as well as increased frequencies on existing routes.